The price of ignorance — By Livy-Elcon Emereonye

Everything has a cost but not as compared to ignorance which is more costly. It’s damn too expensive and dangerous to live with.

This is why Sri Chinmoy penned, “Ignorance is an enemy, even to its owner. Knowledge is a friend, even to its hater. Ignorance hates knowledge because it is too pure. Knowledge fears ignorance because it is too sure.” Sometimes, and in some quarters, being ignorant is the worst thing that can happen to anyone.

Robert Browning went further to say, “Ignorance is not innocence but sin.” And like sin, it brings about complex especially guilty complex. It keeps one indecisive and indifferent in a state of decay.

In a simple term, ignorance is lack of knowledge, understanding, or information about something. It is worse than a terminal disease with gross consequences.

Anyway, it can be cured but the survival rate is very low. The one down with ignorance rarely knows he is suffering and as such finds it difficult to seek treatment and cure. Herein lies the challenge as no one can force the horse to drink even after taking it to the stream.

It was Plato who said, “Better be unborn than untaught, for ignorance is the root of misfortune.” The greatest misfortune associated with ignorance is the absolute waste of resources – time, energy, opportunities and money. Yes, the ignorant person will sit on top of gold without knowing it – and abuse is inevitable where value is not known.

Many factors can be responsible for ignorance. They include natural and man-made factors. Of the man-made causes self-induced factor is the most dangerous.

Lack of education (formal and informal), poverty of the mind and poverty of exposure are the greatest enablers of ignorance… They cause things to degenerate from bad to worse.

The ignorant one lives in a world of fantasy and swims in his pool of seclusion. Being cut off from realities, he reigns in delusion and paranoid, assuming the know-all position when in essence he is empty, making the loudest noise.

The flame of ignorance is often fed by arrogance – and it’s made worse by the association of the ignorant. Like attracts like so the ignorant would most like keep the company of the ignorant. And when the group of ignorant people gathers, the light of objective thinking and sound reasoning is extinguished – and in their idiocy, they listen to themselves and get bliss in blind arguments.

The danger here is that they infect others and increase their circle of influence – and the people and the society suffer.

Ignorance maims and kills. To appreciate ignorance, one needs to analyze the saying, “Nothing is as dangerous as ignorance as it can make one stand on the way of a tiger” – be devoured! Worse than taking an overdose a poison and expects another person to die, ignorance at both individual and group levels is suicidal.

No man who puts his hands into the fire will not get burnt. No one who uses his two legs to test the depth of an ocean will live to tell the story. The one who walks into the lion’s den will end in the belly of the lion. These are just few cases of what the ignorant can do.

The cost of ignorance is huge and it cuts across board. Individually, it makes one lose consciousness with reality to possibly end up as a failure and minus to humanity. As a group, it brings about a wasted generation.

State wise, it breeds bad government with resultant underdevelopment through impunity and administrative recklessness. When the ignorant is in power, things easily change from good to bad and worst. The stupidity of ignorance can easily make a leader to become a ruler manifesting all the attributes of a tyrant – a beast. To worsen situation, he would surround himself with minions and sycophants that would massage his ego and tell him that his vices are virtuous and his evil is the best.

Michael Douglas said, “The most valuable commodity I know of is information.” And the possession of right information and true wisdom comes at great price but it worth the effort. Knowledge is light. Knowledge is power.

The only cure for ignorance is education – sound education. With education every dark spot is cleared and darkness is illuminated; with good education every wrong could be righted and injustice would be addressed.

When the ignorant gets educated, humility is enthroned and simplicity reigns that tolerance and complementation permeate his world as he works selflessly for the common good of everyone.

Again, when and where education replaces ignorance, self-discovery takes centre stage, leading to contentment and fulfillment. With this, one becomes humane and rationale, knowing quite well that we don’t just need each other and one another but rather we live for each other and one another and can be our best in a conducive environment and an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence.

When you discover yourself and work to fulfill your purpose of existence, you will realize that life is indeed short and will therefore not waste a second on irrelevant issues but rather maximize your time for optimum outputs. You will go out to seek more knowledge necessary to solving problems which is the only thing that can guarantee sustainable wealth creation.

Therefore, commit to paying the cost for wisdom instead of suffering through the price of ignorance. Seek knowledge; and in all your gettings, get wisdom. As you get educated, endeavour to educate others. This way the web of ignorance will be removed and its effects erased that humanity will flourish exceedingly very great. This is because, when we are free through good education and enlightenment, we will not become a tool in the hands of bad politicians and evil doers who deliberately create chaos just to cash on in it to actualize their evil intentions.

When a greater percentage of the people know their rights, they will do everything to be just and promote fairplay – and where there is justice, there will also be civilization and meaningful development for the people will compete more on creative ideas and productive ventures instead of living with self condemnation, blaming someone else for their misfortune.